Deepfakes and the 2020 US elections: what (did not) happen

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how a combination of social media activity, legislation, AI access issues, and societal awareness prevented malicious deepfakes from impacting the 2020 US elections, contrasting with earlier fears of disinformation.

Contribution

It identifies four key factors that contributed to the resilience of the 2020 US elections against deepfake disinformation, highlighting context-specific effectiveness.

Findings

Multiple warnings created a preventive environment

Social networks and laws played a protective role

The approach may not generalize to other political contexts

Abstract

Alarmed by the volume of disinformation that was assumed to have taken place during the 2016 US elections, scholars, politics and journalists predicted the worst when the first deepfakes began to emerge in 2018. After all, US Elections 2020 were believed to be the most secure in American history. This paper seeks explanations for an apparent contradiction: we believe that it was precisely the multiplication and conjugation of different types of warnings and fears that created the conditions that prevented malicious political deepfakes from affecting the 2020 US elections. From these warnings, we identified four factors (more active role of social networks, new laws, difficulties in accessing Artificial Intelligence and better awareness of society). But while this formula has proven to be effective in the case of the United States, 2020, it is not correct to assume that it can be repeated in other political contexts.